Herbicidal potential of allelopathic plants and fungi against Parthenium hysterophorus – A review

Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is world's worst weed. It is native to tropical America and has rapidly spread in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. It can be controlled by herbicides, but their use adversely affects the environment and human health. Hence, alternate eco-friendly, cost effective and bioefficaceous methods of weed control are needed. Efforts are being made to use natural plant products for weed management. It has been shown that extracts, residues and essential oils of many allelopathic plant species (herbs, grasses and trees) effectively reduce the germination and growth of parthenium. Likewise metabolites of many fungal species have herbicidal effects on its germination and growth. There is need to isolate and identify the active herbicidal ingredients from plants and fungal metabolites. These chemical constituents may provide the structural lead to prepare natural product based environment friendly herbicides to manage this weed.